New fish here at home brewing and already made mistakes.

[Smeltifikation]

Hi All,

Hence the title above I've broken my brew already and looking to rescue it.

Can someone point me in the right discussion to fixing it?

Thanks,

Mr S

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Welcome to the forum, i have moved your question to the general beer brewing forum from the introduction forum as it'll get more views here, if you can add more information on what has gone wrong it will help members help you.

 

[Smeltifikation]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

Simple mistakes to be honest, I added too much water and done my OG and FG so i know my ABV will be lower (about 3.5%) which i don't mind.

The main mistake, I think, is moving it to a cooler place after only 2 days at 20c in the barrel after i added the brewing sugar. I then left it for 2 weeks and was looking forward to a tasty ale but the first two pints were fine with plenty of head but minimal carbonation.

Am i right in thinking that if i move it to a warm place again (around 20c) for 10'ish days it should re-carbonate itself or am i best to add C02 to help it give a push?

Reason i'm guessing this is because some of the pints still had bits of yeast in it so i'm thinking the second fermentation hasn't properly developed yet. If thats the right terminology. :S

Thanks,

 

[BrewBandit]

When you say "after adding the brewing sugar" are you referring to the big wad of sugar just before taking your OG or a small amount to generate secondary fermentation and (possibly) carbonation?

It might be a good idea to set out your whole process so far, so readers can see what's been/not been done.

 

[An Ankoù]

You need to tell us what you were brewing, what the target OG was supposed to be, how much extra water you added. What was the temperature of the cooler place, what was the final FG. How did you dispense the first two pints that had a good head? Is it in a pressure barrel? Why is the rest of the beer not as good as the first two pints?
ANd anything else that might give us a clue.
Welcome to the forum.

 

[Jim Brewster]

2 weeks seems enough to carbonate but it depends just how low the temperature was that you moved the barrel to. If it was too cold then maybe it halted carbonation so warming again might resume the process.

How much priming sugar did you add per litre?

 

[Linalmeemow]

Sounds like you need to put the barrel somewhere warm (20c or so, room temperature) and leave it another couple of weeks. The sugar's still in there, the yeast's still in there, it'll carbonate given time and warmth.

Also how much sugar did you add to prime it (to add carbonation)? If you added too little this may be all the carbonation you're getting!

 

[Smeltifikation]

HI All,

I'm brewing Woodfordes Wherry Beer, i though I'd start simple and try it from a can.

Fermented the brew with no issues (10 days) and instead of putting in 23 litres i accidentally put in 25. The FG came in at 1.012. Transferred 23 litres to a pressure barrel with priming sugar, about 80 grams if i remember rightly. Kept it in a place where it was 20c for 2 days and then transferred it the place where it was held at about 17-18c for the last 2 weeks.

The first two pints came out with plenty of foam and a good head (from the tap on the barrel). Afterwards i don't get a good head and there doesn't seem to be much carbonation.

Thanks,

 

[Jim Brewster]

18C seems warm enough to be honest. 80g/23l is 3.5grams per litre which is towards the low end of the scale, comes out about 1.7 volumes of CO2

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/
(I don't use barrels myself so am quite probably wrong)

 

[Smeltifikation]

18C seems warm enough to be honest. 80g/23l is 3.5grams per litre which is towards the low end of the scale, comes out about 1.7 volumes of CO2

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

18C seems warm enough to be honest. 80g/23l is 3.5grams per litre which is towards the low end of the scale, comes out about 1.7 volumes of CO2

https://www.brewersfriend.com/beer-priming-calculator/

I think i acted too soon in transferring it to a cooler place. So hoping the fizz starts again, I wasn't expecting much carbonation just more than what there was.

Thanks,

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hello and welcome, 80g is all i use in my pressure barrels 3 of them, 18c should be ok i would suspect a small leak somewere possibly the cap have a look at the mating surfaces on the barrel any imperfections here will result in c02 leakage

 

[Cheshire Cat]

You may have a leak on your barrel what kind is it?

 

[Smeltifikation]

Hi,

It's the pressure barrel that came with the kit. I've got the valve attached to it where you can put in c02 in to the barrel. I moistened the seals before hand as well to make sure there's a nice tight seal. I've already checked for a leak around the tap and it's all ok.

This is the starter kit - Starter Kit: The Woodfordes Wherry Microbrewery

Thanks,

 

[terrym]

If you have any CO2 bulbs or an S30 type cylinder to add CO2 it might be worth injecting some CO2 into your PB and then coat everything above the waterline with soapy water and see if you can detect a leak. And everything means everything, cap, fittings, PB body especially the manufacturing seams.

 

[An Ankoù]

It all sounds good. 25L instead of 23 is neither here nor there. The temperatures are fine. Move it back into the warm for a week and see whether it carbonates. You talk say some pints had bits of yeast in them so I reckon it's not quite ready yet.

 

[Smeltifikation]

thanks for all the help

 

[terrym]

If you put your PB back into the warm after its already been there two weeks I suspect you will be wasting your time. Your priming sugar has already gone.

 

[An Ankoù]

I've used that type of barrel and it can leak around the top seal.
And @terrym 's right about the priming sugar all being used up. You need to re-gas and check everywhere for leaks. Then, when you've fixed the leak, you can either re-prime it and it'll take about 5-7 days to prime, or you can re-gas it again.

 

[dillz2003]

When I used to use pressure barrels I learned the hard way that they don't always seal properly so got into the habit of always turning them upside down over the kitchen sink to check for leaks. It was surprising how often I would think they were sealed but had a dribble from them.